Planning Ahead, Part 3

I'm going to finish up on this planning ahead series since I'm getting tired of it already. So instead of individual summaries of each topic, I'm going to make a list. Here it goes.

Places to see:

The Inland Sea

Hiroshima

Kyushu

Anywhere in Hokkaido

Tokyo (again)

Things to do:

Pass the JLPT 3 or above

Eat at a kaiten sushi restaurant

Meet up with friends

There's tons more that I plan to do, but I've decided that I'm not going to be able to preview everything I want to do in my blog. The summaries I've written so far aren't that exciting, either, so I don't think anyone is missing out if I discontinue the planning ahead series. I'll be able to post much more interesting information after I've experienced each goal!

I'll continue to post before I get to Japan, but I haven't decided what each post is going to be like yet. I don't want any of my posts to just be pointless rambling, so don't worry! I'll think of something.

Until then!

~ Interlude ~

(Warning: Long post ahead!)

I'm interrupting my list to talk about my trip in more detail. I'll resume normal posts again tomorrow, but I think it would be nice to talk more about what I know that I'll be doing in Japan.

I am going to study for a year (two full semesters) at Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Nishinomiya, Japan. Here's a picture of where Nishinomiya is on a map: 

I chose KGU for a few reasons:

    1) KGU is one of Drake University's direct exchange programs, which means I am able to use all of my scholarship money from Drake to pay for the program. 

    2) KGU has a serious language program. Since my main goal in Japan is to learn Japanese, a serious Japanese program is important.

    3) KGU is not in Tokyo. I went to Tokyo for 6 weeks the last time I was in Japan, so I am ready to see somewhere else.

    4) KGU offers a winter semester. More time to study!

(If you haven't realized by now, I like making lists. The numbers make me feel important.)

Studying at KGU will add an extra year to my college education, but I hope it will also help me gain the skills and experience to work and think globally. I was in the pre-pharmacy program for my first two years at Drake, and while I plan to continue with pharmacy when I return from KGU, I would like to incorporate some sort of global/international aspect into my pharmacy career. I'm not exactly sure how I will accomplish that, but I am certain that studying in Japan will increase my chances of finding (or making) a career in pharmacy that I will enjoy. 

I will arrive in Japan on September 12. Classes start a week later. I will be living with a host family for the first semester, and probably the second semester, too. (The program said that they can only guarantee one semester, but I hope to be able to stay both semesters!) My family has three children ages 10, 5, and 3, and two young parents. That's really all I know for now. I'm sure I'll talk about them a lot more later on.

My last week of classes at KGU will be the last week of July, 2010. When classes are out, I'll fly back to the states, rest for a week or two, and then start pharmacy school at Drake. It'll be a quick transition, but I know it will be worth it.

If I get enough credits in Japan, I may officially add an international relations (IR) major to my pharmacy degree, but I'm not too worried about that. Even if I don't get the label of having completed an IR major, I've already taken a few international relations and politics classes, and my experiences in Japan should give me tons of international experience. I also, of course, plan to take more IR classes in the future. Combining my knowledge from classes and my time in Japan, I should be more than ready for an international career -- even without an IR major. After all, my knowledge from IR classes and experience abroad will be just as valuable as an IR major. (A lesson I learned from my advisor.)

So that's about all I can think of for my trip details. I'll post my next entry in the "Planning Ahead" series tomorrow, so be ready!

Until then!

Planning Ahead, Part 2

Today I'm writing about two more experiences I would like to have in Japan. They're both experiences I've already had, but if I don't do either of them while I'm in Japan, I will consider my trip a complete failure!

Gyu-don

Anyone who has talked to me about Japan knows that my favorite food was Yoshinoya's gyudon. It's awesome. A bowl of white rice, meat, onions and a delicious sauce. I can't even begin to explain how good it is. So I'll stop wasting your time and just show a picture of it... and we're done.

Karaoke

Karaoke, another awesome thing from Japan, may be aimed more at younger people (at least people younger than me), but I am definitely going at least once! I hope that I'll be able to go to a karaoke box with some of the new friends I make in Japan. Here's a picture of a sign outside of a karaoke building. Brings back good memories!

I went shopping all day, so I didn't get to write very much today. Expect more tomorrow! 

Planning Ahead, Part 1

I am going to break my pre-departure posts into sections. Each section will have a certain aspect of something I want to do, see, or experience in Japan. Sound good? Let's start with my real blog! 

Itsukushima Shrine

My first place to see is a common tourist site. The gate (a picture to the left) is the biggest attraction at the shrine. I would like to go at either dusk or dawn, so I may have to plan a short trip to visit the shrine. 

The Itsukushima shrine is located in Hatsukaichi (other picture), so it will be at least a day-long trip. Since Hatsukaichi is in Hiroshima prefecture, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make a 2 or 3-day trip to the area. I'll talk about the rest of that trip later!

If you are interested in reading about the history of the Istukushima shrine, Wiki has a little blurb on it -- I linked the shrine name (above) to the Wiki page, so just click on it to get there. It seems the shrine is dedicated to the daughters of Susanoo, the Shino god of the sea and storms. 

Shinkansen

Here's an experience I would like to have: ride a bullet train on the Shinkansen. Last time I was in Japan I stayed mainly in Tokyo, so I  only rode the normal subway trains. This time, I want to ride on a bullet train! When I do ride on the Shinkansen, it will probably be to Tokyo. I'll talk more about visiting Tokyo later.

I posted a picture I found of the Shinkansen near Mt. Fuji for maximum awe effect. I might not ever ride a train past Mt. Fuji, but no matter where I go I still think taking a bullet train will be a worthwile experience.

Alright, that's all I have for my first post. I pieced it together quickly, so sorry if it's hard to read. I'll spend more time on my posts when I get to Japan, but right now I'm just trying to write everything down!

Until next time!

~ Prologue ~

Well, first posts are always the hardest, right? So I'll try to get it out of the way right now. Here we go!

I created this blog to share my experiences in Japan. So I guess it's more of a travelogue than a blog. (I'm going to avoid making some awful conglomeration of the words 'travel' and 'blog' right here to protect my blog's integrity.) I plan on posting here at least weekly -- maybe even semi-weekly. The posts will probably contain some pictures, news, videos, or anything I find interesting. I'm not an eloquent writer, so expect a lot of random punctuation and some confusing sentences. Still, I'll do my best to make my posts interesting and intelligible.

I decided on the name JapanGo! for my blog because:

    1) The word for 'Japanese' in Japanese is nihongo, a combination of nihon, meaning Japan, and -go, a suffix used to denote a language (I guess -- I can't think of another way to describe it). So I translated nihon into Japan, but left -go as go, making the title of my blog a pun on the Japanese word for Japanese, and also something like 'Let's go to Japan' in English. 

    2) I'm not very creative, and decided to settle for something cheesy.

    3) I thought it would be easy to remember but still original. (Of course, after I decided on the name I found out that someone had already stolen! the name for their blog -- except it's called japan-go, nowhere near as cool as JapanGo!)

    4) I wanted to use my super-awesome computer art skills to make a logo, and JapanGo! is short enough to make lots of different logos with!

But enough about the name of the blog. I leave for Japan on September 11, so until then I will be writing about what I want to do while I'm in Japan. I'm not sure how serious I'm going to be, but I definitely have some goals for my trip to Japan that I would like to write down. By writing down my goals I'll have more motivation to accomplish them so I don't feel like a failure! (Or something like that)

Also, on a final note, I'm going to try to make my posts as fun as possible, but I'm not experienced at posting in blogs. Some of my posts may have awful formatting, broken links, etc. I'm certain it will happen. But I'll get better. I promise!